


My, What Bright Eyes You Have

by Interjection



Category: Hermitcraft RPF, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Based off Scar's tweet about... you know..., Gen, Jellie is a very smart cat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:48:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25964629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Interjection/pseuds/Interjection
Summary: Jellie was struck by lightning.Scar stared at the message, the pixel letters bunched so innocently it could have been telling him the weather instead.But - how-<Grian> uh Scar<Grian> good news and bad news...<Grian> good news: Jellie is alive.<Grian> bad news: she's... a bit different.
Comments: 23
Kudos: 160





	My, What Bright Eyes You Have

_Jellie was struck by lightning._

Scar stared at the message that had just popped up, the pixel letters bunched so innocently it could have been telling him the weather instead.

Something jabbed sharply at his foot. Scar's eyes trailed down, and he realized he had dropped the concrete he's been building with. With shaking hands, Scar picked it back up and swiveled his head to look at his communicator once again.

_Jellie was struck by lightning._

The words rolled around his mind, on his tongue, and Scar nearly spoke them aloud.

He didn't. Was he afraid that by saying it, he was condemning Jellie's fate into existence? That somehow, maybe, this was all a wispy, fragmented dream?

It didn't matter. Scar knew it didn't. 

_Jellie was struck by lightning._

_But - how-_

Scar's communicator pinged, and almost unconsciously, as though he was a guided puppet, Scar brought it up again.

_ <Grian> uh Scar _

_ <Grian> good news and bad news... _

_ <Grian> good news: Jellie is alive. _

Scar wasn't sure he could bring himself to read the bad news.

Jellie was alive? But how? And - what other terrible fate could have befallen her?

His eyes stayed pinned on the screen like an arrow.

_ <Grian> bad news: she's... different? _

Different?

_That's not helpful, Grian!_

Scar bit back the urge to shout his frustration into the winds. It seemed to flutter more intensely, so high up on the drill, curling around his elytra and blowing soft brown hair into his face.

Jellie was... he'd left her in the village. She wandered, sometimes, but - he had to start somewhere-

Scar took out his rockets and leaped off.

* * *

When Scar flew into the jungle, magical village in sight, he immediately noticed three things. 

First, it was raining. _Hard_. The droplets bashed against his diving form like icy teardrops, and the wind constantly threatened to send him spiraling into a tree or mountainside. Thunder boomed in the distance, and another current of fear seized Scar's thoughts.

Second, the giant blue crystal at the very center of the village had turned nearly white, and Scar swore it was _quivering_ , plasma sparks dancing in an inferno around it, and for a moment he worried it would burst into a shower of raining glass shards.

Third, there was a gray and white shape curled up on the crystal, fur wet and pressed, and she was so still that for a moment Scar's heart dropped all over again.

Then the ears pricked up, and suddenly, Jellie was meowing frantically, front legs curling upwards at Scar's circling form, eyes narrowed against the battering wind and rain.

"I'm here!" Scar yelled, and he dove. His feet slammed into the crystal with a painful crack, but the glass held. It was clear there was electricity running currents through the entire crystal now, and they clawed at Scar's ankles with tiny, savage sparks that made him dizzy with pain.

Scar barely noticed. He launched himself forward and buried his face in Jellie's fur, stroking her head, reassuring himself that _she was really alright-_

"Scar, you might want to-"

Scar looked down, and he realized Grian was standing on the slightly scorched grass a dozen blocks away, looking up at him with a bewildered expression as he shielded his face with his hands, squinting against the rain.

Scar blinked - suddenly he registered a burning pain down his arm, his chest, his entire body-

"Jellie!" he yelped, and found himself letting go, nearly slipping on the smooth, wet surface of the crystal. "What happened!?"

Jellie looked up at his pained expression, and then back onto her own fur, buzzing with the clear hum of electricity, and meowed guiltily. She took a few steps back and pawed at the crystal. Scar had never seen her look so despondent before, ears flattened and eyes wide with horrified realization.

"Wait!" Scar reached forward to pick her up, but the moment his fingers brushed the soft, silky fur, a jolt of searing pain ran through him again, as though a lightning bolt had hit him full force-

Scar stared, the pieces slotting together in his mind. 

"You got struck - and -"

"You two might want to come down," Grian called again, voice swept and muffled bye the howling winds around them, and there was noticeable anxiety in his tone. 

"Right," Scar said dazily, and his elytra flitted out.

* * *

"So, let me get this straight." Cub took a deep breath, pacing around. Jellie was curled on Scar's bed, glancing between him, Scar, and Grian with unusually bright eyes. They seemed to glow even in the well lit interior that was Larry's shell, an eerie green that Scar could have sworn he'd seen somewhere before.

"Jellie got struck by lightning, and instead of dying-"

Scar shuddered at the statement, scooting closer to Jellie on the bed. Though they'd realized anyone who touched her would receive violent, painful shocks, Scar privately thought anything was worth it to cuddle her up in his arms again, pretending there was absolutely nothing was wrong with either of them. 

"-she got charged with the lightning instead," Grian finished. "Making her... full of electricity?"

"Like a charged creeper," Cub murmured. "But cats don't..."

"The crystal," Scar's head shot up, realization washing over him like a tidal wave. Of course, that would explain why it was so-

"It's the magic," he whispered. "Of course..."

"What?" Grian asked, blinking, but recognition suddenly lit up in Cub's eyes.

"Of course!" he gasped. "Scar, you said you enchanted them too-"

"To hold energy or magic of some kind," Scar nodded, "like a battery. Most of them are more specific - the health ones are designed to absorb the effects of regeneration potions, to be released whenever someone touching it is hurt. They hold the energy better if there's a specific type they're calibrated to attune to. But the one outside was only ever meant to be a decoration, so it can hold any type of energy, though less effectively."

"Well, that explains why it's gone all glowly," Grian said. "But - Jellie-"

Scar wasn't quite sure either. Though he'd never felt so relieved in his entire life, why Jellie hadn't simply been struck into a charred crisp was still a mystery he was trying to wrap his head around. He understood the crystal would have helped, but it couldn't have been enough, when he examined the possibility further.

"The crystal is one of Jellie's favorite napping spots," he said slowly. "The sun warms it really nicely. But the thunderstorm-"

"It came out of nowhere," Grian frowned. "One moment it was bright and sunny, and the next a huge thunderstorm rolled over the jungle. It happened just before Jellie got struck, since that's when the message showed up."

"So she didn't have any time to move before getting hit," Scar murmured, glancing at her again. She purred, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. Scar knew she was only trying to make him feel better, but a heavy weight still settled on his chest.

"The crystal must have absorbed most of the lightning's energy," he continued. "but it shouldn't have been enough to completely save Jellie, and it doesn't explain why she's..."

Scar gestured helplessly at the sparks that still crackled around her, a menacing barrier that trapped her in a barbed, sparking snare.

"It probably didn't hit her directly," Cub said quietly, glancing out the window. "Lightning only needs to strike within 6 or so blocks to transfer enough energy to... affect mobs. Like charge creepers or transform villagers and pigs. Or... kill them. But since Jellie was on the crystal, it probably absorbed most of the electricity before it hit her. If it had struck her directly, all the electricity would have gone directly through her and she would have died either way, but it hit right next to her instead, and that was enough."

"The crystal absorbed most of the magic, but Jellie was close enough that-"

Scar broke off, and suddenly, Jellie's... _condition_ began to make a lot more sense. Cub nodded, sensing his train of thought.

"Right. Not all of it was absorbed, since she was so close. And Scar, you said the crystal wasn't calibrated to hold any specific type of magic or energy, right?"

"Right," Scar said. "Which means it leaks energy or magic, especially if too much is put in at once - like if you poured soup into a bowl too fast, and the bowl already had a crack at the bottom."

"That... _leakage_ probably got transferred to Jellie," Cub murmured. "It's not really lightning any more, once it goes through the crystal. It's electrical energy, but the crystal converts it into a form that affects entities differently, more directly-"

"By charging them," Scar realized. "Like a charged creeper. And now I can't give her belly rubs anymore, or scratch her behind the ears, or _touch her at all-_ "

He looked away. Jellie gave him another soft reassuring purr, blinking her glowing eyes.

 _At least she's_ alive, Scar thought, giving her a soft smile in turn. _It could have been worse. She could be dead._

"I'm so sorry, Scar," Grian said. "At least-"

"I know," Scar said, closing his eyes. "I know."

* * *

Jellie's sad, glowing eyes haunted his dreams for the next few months.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by this: https://twitter.com/GTWScar/status/1295488090367172608?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
> 
> And by rumors of people already starting to draw charged Jellie fanart. 
> 
> I can't handle the idea of Jellie dying so...


End file.
